The Melody
by girl in the glen
Summary: If music can soothe the savage beast, what might it do to an element?


There was music playing somewhere upstairs. The home's spacious entry echoed the strains of a piano and flute, the two intertwined in a melody that had the effect of a vine, a morning glory perhaps, winding around each room as it sought the sun's rays.

Two figures appeared at the base of the stairs; a blonde woman dressed in blue seemed to walked from out of nowhere and by her side an elegant man, also blond and dressed in a severe shade of gray. His suit was immaculate on the lean frame, his hair long by most standards. Together they looked like matching halves of some designer's dream of the perfect couple.

The music continued to play above them, the strains of an unknown tune the only sound in this house. The man, Steel, directed his gaze to the top of the stairs while his companion, Sapphire, hummed along with the tantalizing melody.

_Is that the trigger?_

His question was silent, heard only in the mind of the lovely woman at his side.

_I think so. The melody is not something ever published. It has remained here, in this house, for … one hundred and fifty-five years._

Steel looked again to the top landing. He disliked the melody for a reason he could not readily identify. It was too … repetitious. Like Time itself when in rebellion, the melody would continue to draw on itself without ever moving away from the few measures that continued to play.

_It is an unfinished piece, Steel. The composer only conceived of this small portion and then …_

_What? What allowed Time to create the rift? _

Sapphire's eyes began to glow the brilliant hues of her elemental nature. Something in the melody was bereft, somehow, barren. She needed to get closer to the source of the sound. Steel sensed her being drawn upstairs and stepped in front of her, blocking the way.

_I'll go, Sapphire. _

_I need to be there as well, Steel. I need to be in the midst of it. You can't feel what I will know of it._

He knew she was right, but something was gnawing at him. He wasn't given to forebodings, but something in the plaintive strains of the melody made him feel… That was the problem. He _was_ feeling.

Steel took Sapphire's hand in his and started up the stairs without another word. They would go together and face whatever Time had constructed in this unending melody.

Sapphire felt a jolt of something like electricity go through her body. She recoiled from it, jerking her hand free of Steel's and nearly toppling down the stairs. Steel grabbed her, pulling her to him as they both fell onto the landing. Sapphire was gasping for air as she attempted to straighten up, keenly aware of the concerned expression on her partner's face.

_Are you all right? What happened to you?_

She nodded, her breath not quite sufficient for speaking, her mind still reeling from the effects.

The melody was continuing from a room farther down the hall; piano and flute, back and forth on the melody and counter melody. The tune was more intricate somehow when heard from up here, and Steel began to feel less antagonized by it. Sapphire was listening intently, a smile on her face indicating the pleasure it gave her.

_It's a love song I think. Unrequited love, unless I miss my … guess, for lack of a better word. The melody has been playing here, on these instruments, for all of these years. _

Steel was listening, but he felt slightly disconnected. Sapphire's voice was beginning to be a part of the melody, equally musical and completely mesmerizing.

_Unrequited? You mean the composer wrote it for someone he loved, but who never returned it…_

He wasn't asking a question of Sapphire; somehow Steel also knew the origins of the melody. It was invading him as surely as his elemental nature had assumed this human shape. The music in this house was attaching itself to Steel.

"Sapphire…" At the sound of Steel's voice, Sapphire looked up into his face and saw something she would never have dreamed could be there. Beyond the stoic exterior she knew so well, something was happening to him, was eroding his own nature and replacing it with whatever was emanating from the melody.

"Steel! Steel, don't give in to it. Steel!" But it was too late. Before her eyes, Sapphire witnessed a transformation that was both shocking and, to her astonishment, quite wonderful.

Steel's expression was changed; the stern lines were gone, and in their place was a soft smile, a light in his eyes that betrayed the normally steel blue shade. They were bright, lit from within with something new. Sapphire was transfixed, but this man was not Steel.

"What is your name?" Sapphire had to communicate with whomever, whatever this was. She had to get Steel back, and the way was not clear to her yet.

The man who looked like Steel, but was clearly not her partner, looked at Sapphire with a yearning that bespoke decades of desire. The melody had stopped when Steel was lost, causing Sapphire to believe that the music was, itself, a live entity. It was fascinating, but she had no time to dawdle with that. Steel was trapped somewhere and she alone was charged with getting him back.

"You are Sapphire. I've been waiting for you.'' Steel smiled, a completely new expression to Sapphire's memory of him. She was caught between fear and an inexplicable desire to hear him speak in this new, tender voice.

"I hardly think you can have been waiting for me. Perhaps you have been waiting for anyone who might show up.' Sapphire needed to coax him into a state of mind that would allow her to probe deeper; she needed to locate Steel.

"Where is my friend? I know he must be here somewhere, I'd like to find him again." Steel, or the man who looked like Steel, continued to smile. His eyes were a crystalline shade of blue, rivaling her own in hue. She could feel herself being drawn to this …

"Why have you dwelt here for all of these years?" The first glimmer of sadness came over the handsome features. Sapphire wondered if Steel might still be able to hear her if she called to him silently.

"I am a song without end. I am the melody that seeks resolution with the heart of a lover. You have come to me, and so you must be the last measure of my melody." Sapphire hadn't expected that. Looking at Steel and hearing romantic yearnings was unsettling to the element, it was unfathomable for him to express desire and … Whatever emotions might have permeated the naturally resilient Sapphire, she still was unprepared for Steel, her Steel, to wax romantic with her as the object of his longings.

"You cannot have him. Music is an ethereal thing, it must remain in its realm, not here like this; you cannot _be_ Steel.

"But I am…' And he took Sapphire in his arms, holding her close as he drew her face to his. Their lips met in an explosion of notes, chaotic in their ascent to the ceiling of the old house. Sapphire saw the universe unfold as she gave in to the kiss; unrequited love finally finding fulfillment in a solitary act.

And then it was over. She remained in the arms of Steel as the house quieted, the notes evaporated and the arms that had held her with such vehement emotion began to slacken, as did the kiss itself. Steel stumbled backwards, losing his footing and falling in a boneless heap to the floor. Sapphire, still reeling from the intensity of the kiss, was slow to recognize what was happening. Was it only the desire of the melody that had created this scene? What if her own desire, the one she subdued for the sake of her partnership with Steel had also fueled this encounter?

She saw him then, lying a few feet away from her. Sapphire dropped to her knees, desperate to make certain that Steel was alive, that he was all right. The absurdity then of her fears assuaged her… _Could a kiss be fatal?_

_No, Sapphire. It was … pleasurable, but it did not kill me._

Steel moved, although it was obvious the effort involved was taxing. He felt as he often did after experiencing freezing; lethargic and groggy. The memory of the kiss he had shared with Sapphire was like something out of the Past. Indeed, that is exactly what it had been.

"It's gone now? I don't hear any music." Sapphire nodded. It seemed that the only thing wanting in this house had been the lack of physical appreciation, of … Sapphire sighed. She didn't have words for this.

"Are you all right, Steel? That was … " What was it, besides incredibly satisfying?

"Yes. Yes, it was." Sapphire knelt down to look at Steel, to satisfy herself that it was truly her partner.

"It is gone, Sapphire. I am back, although I wonder …" He wondered if she would have preferred that he remained beneath the veneer of that great passion they had just experienced. Sapphire gave him her hand as he stood, using both her and the wall for support. They would depart this place, confident that Time was no longer interested in it.

"I am very relieved to know it is you, Steel. I honestly wouldn't want it any other way." She saw the uncertainty in his expression, heard it in words that remained mute. She understood his reaction.

She wasn't sure about her own.


End file.
